Network Working Group                     Kelly McGrew,
            INTERNET DRAFT                          CompuServe Inc.
                                                           May 1997
                                              Expires November 1997
            
            
                       The Named Pool Request Option for DHCP
                          <draft-ietf-dhc-namedpool-00.txt>
            
            Status of this Memo
            
               This document is an Internet-Draft.  Internet-Drafts are
               working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force
               (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
               other groups may also distribute working documents as
               Internet-Drafts.
            
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               of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted
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               use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them
               other than as ``work in progress.''
            
               To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please
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               West Coast).
            
            . Abstract
            
               This option is used by a DHCP client to optionally
               identify the specific named pool from which it should be
               assigned an IP address.  The information contained in
               this option is an ASCII text object that represents the
               named pool from which the DHCP server assign an IP
               address to the DHCP client.
            
            . Definitions
            
               Throughout this document, the words that are used to
               define the significance of particular requirements are
               capitalized.  These words are:
            
               o "MUST"
            
                 This word or the adjective "REQUIRED" means that the
                 item is an absolute requirement of this specification.
            
            
            
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               o "MUST NOT"
            
                 This phrase means that the item is an absolute
                 prohibition of this specification.
            
               o "SHOULD"
            
                 This word or the adjective "RECOMMENDED" means that
                 there may exist valid reasons in particular
                 circumstances to ignore this item, but the full
                 implications should be understood and the case
                 carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
            
               o "SHOULD NOT"
            
                 This phrase means that there may exist valid reasons in
                 particular circumstances when the listed behavior is
                 acceptable or even useful, but the full implications
                 should be understood and the case carefully weighed
                 before implementing any behavior described with this
                 label.
            
               o "MAY"
            
                 This word or the adjective "OPTIONAL" means that this
                 item is truly optional.  One vendor may choose to
                 include the item because a particular marketplace
                 requires it or because it enhances the product, for
                 example; another vendor may omit the same item.
            
            
               This document also uses the following terms:
            
                o "DHCP client"
            
                  A DHCP client or "client" is an Internet host using
                 DHCP to obtain configuration parameters such as a
                 network address.
            
               o "DHCP server"
            
                 A DHCP server of "server" is an Internet host that
                 returns configuration parameters to DHCP clients.
            
            
            . Named Pool Information
            
               This option is used by a DHCP client to optionally
               identify the specific named pool from which it should be
               assigned an IP address.  The information contained in
            
            
            
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               this option is an ASCII text object that represents the
               named pool from which the DHCP server assign an IP
               address to the DHCP client.
            
               DHCP administrators MAY assign specific names to IP
               address pools on a DHCP server.  For example, pools may
               be established for various departments or network
               segments.  A DHCP client MAY then be configured to
               request an address from a specific named pool.  A DHCP
               server SHOULD assign an address from the requested named
               pool to the DHCP client.
            
               Servers not equipped to interpret the named pool
               specified by a client MUST ignore it.  Otherwise, DHCP
               servers SHOULD respond with an IP address from the pool
               corresponding to the named pool specified by the DHCP
               client.  If the DHCP server returns no address due to a
               named pool's address range being depleted, the DHCP
               client MAY resubmit another request with a different
               named pool name.
            
               Clients which do not which do not request a named pool
               SHOULD be treated in a manner consistent with DHCP server
               configuration.  A DHCP server MAY be configured to
               provide only named pool addresses, in which case a client
               requesting an address without using the named pool option
               from a DHCP server which supports solely this option MUST
               be denied an address.  A DHCP server MAY be configured to
               automatically rotor to an alternative pool.  The DHCP
               server MAY then assign an address from this alternative
               pool.
            
               The code for this option is TBD.  The minimum length for
               this option is two.
            
                 Code   Len     text1
                 +-----+-----+-------------+-----
                 | TBD |  N  |  named_pool | ...
                 +-----+-----+-------------+-----
            
            
            
            Security Considerations
            
               Security issues are not discussed in this document.
            
            References
            
               [RFC2131] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration
               Protocol", RFC 2131, March 1997.
            
            
            
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               [RFC2132] S. Alexander, R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP
               Vendor Extensions"
            
            Acknowledgments
            
               The author would like to thank Doug Dixon, Joe
               Hirschinger, and Rick Ogg for commenting on and making
               suggestions to this proposal.
            
            Author Information
            
               Kelly McGrew
               CompuServe Inc.
               3535 - 128th Avenue SE
               Bellevue, WA  98006
               Phone:  (206) 957-8317
               kmcgrew@csi.compuserve.com
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            McGrew                                          [Page 4]